Almost Got Her....
by Razorclaw X
Summary: What do you get when you put four of Chaos's most despicable minions together in the same room? I don't know either! Find out!


Sailor Moon: Almost Got Her 

Written by Razorclaw X (spiceoflife@NYUhotmail.com) http://www.crosswinds.net/~slythe/sm/index.html Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and characters belong to Naoko Takeuchi. Proper licenses belong to respective properties and characters. The manga has precedence over material in the anime. This file can be freely distributed so long as it appears in its complete form and proper credit. No part may be reproduced for monetary gain without permission from the author (to which the answer is probably "no"). 

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The Chaos Nexus, 30th Century 

Glowing human hands belonging to an unknown person shuffled a deck of playing cards in his hand out of boredom. For what seemed to be an eternity he waited alone in the darkness of the chamber, its single source of illumination being a primitive ceiling-mounted hanging lamp, giving light to the hands, the cards, and an empty, green velvet circular table. 

Somewhere in the distance he heard the sound of a gong, and as the reverbration died down another seated herself at the table. She, like the first man, was shrouded in a cloak of midnight, revealing only her own pair of hands as she folded them neatly on the table before her. 

Both of them turned their eyes to a third attendee, this time a large, ball-shaped creature of blackness. A single large, round, human-like eye opened, casting its own illumination to the dark room and revealing its tentacle-like feelers that dangled around him. 

Finally, appearing out of nowhere, a pair of blood- red eyes seated herself opposite the giant eye. Her body lacked substance, sharing the same dark shade as the giant eye creature. Talon-like hands reached over the table, and she tapped her fingers on its surface impatiently. 

"It looks like we're all here," Zirconia said, unfolding her hands and leaning on the table with her elbow. She nodded toward Metallia with bemusement in her eyes. "I see you couldn't snatch a body in time, eh?" 

"This will do!" Metallia hissed, her taloned fingers threatening to scratch the table. 

Wiseman leaned forward, wearing a visor over his hooded head. His eyes glanced to Metallia, then to Pharoah 90, continuing to shuffle the deck of cards in his hands. "Then I assume we can begin." 

The giant eyeball, a mere avatar of the giant menace Pharoah 90, blinked. Even piles of red, white, and blue chips appeared on the velvet-covered table. "We will start even this time, since Metallia ruined the table-- and the pot-- last time." 

"You were cheating!" Metallia yelled, slamming a fist on the poker table. 

"Was not," the eyeball replied calmly. 

"That's beside the point," Zirconia voiced. She turned her eyes to Wiseman. "So what'll it be?" 

"The same game we play every time: poker," the hooded sorcerer replied, placing the deck on the table in front of Metallia. "Cut." 

Wordlessly, the shadow creature lifted half the deck up and set it beside the untouched pile. Wiseman scooped up the remaining pile and stacked it on Metallia's pile, then proceeded to deal cards. 

"I see we don't have any new faces this time," the dealer noted, starting at Metallia and running clockwise. 

"Our allies were once in legion," Pharoah 90 said. "But, because of... HER," the eyeball turned to the side and threw a glob of spittle from one of his feelers, "they are no more." 

"When we speak of... HER," Metallia spat, "we know you know what you mean." 

"Of course," Wiseman replied, nodding. 

"Whatever happened to that nice girl?" Zirconia asked, turning to the giant eyeball. She snapped her fingers recalling the name. "Mistress Nine, wasn't it?" 

"WAS," he emphasized coldly. "She was my most powerful agent, and because of... HER...." 

"Go on," insisted Wiseman, having finished dealing out the hands. 

Pharoah 90's eye scooped up the cards before him with tentacle-like feelers. "We were attempting to bring the Silence to the former Earth Kingdom. It was more of a matter of a struggle between the host and Mistress Nine, but in the end the host, who turned out to be the Soldier of Destruction, Saturn, won." 

"That has nothing to do with... HER," Metallia pointed out, organizing her hand. 

"Mistress Nine was my most powerful agent," the eyeball repeated, "and, since they were still at war with the Earth Senshi upon my magic-aided arrival, SHE was there. She, along with the Soldier of Destruction, were on hand to destroy me. The Silence stopped the moment I attempted to step through from Tau Ceti." 

"Mmm," mused Wiseman, throwing down three cards from his hand, "I should visit Tau Ceti one century." 

"It is indeed a dominion of Silence," Pharoah 90 boasted proudly. "Two cards." 

Zirconia threw down cards of her own. "One for me." 

Finally, Metallia wordlessly put down two cards of her own. Wiseman picked up the draw pile and dealt out the necessary cards. 

"What good is it to bring the Silence?" Zirconia wondered, picking up her new set of cards. "Sure, you could wipe out everybody and everything, but what good does it do?" 

"Silence marshals a time of peace," Pharoah 90 replied evenly. "No war, no destruction, no death. It is a grand order which can never be broken." 

"And all that's due to having nobody to do any of those things!" she said, gaining momentum. "There's no purpose in conquest if there aren't any people to conquer!" 

"I have no desire to rule," the black eye pointed out. "Raise twenty." 

Wiseman immediately threw in chips of his own into the pot at the center of the table. "I'll take that. And I agree, as well; rulership is not what it's made out to be." 

Zirconia threw in her own chips. "What's so bad about being the ruler? You get your way, and you don't have to answer to anybody!" She glanced at Wiseman. "Or do you think the 'manipulating advisor' bit really is worth it?" 

"None of your business," the hooded dealer replied coldly. 

"No charisma is your problem," Zirconia insisted. 

Pharoah 90 focused his eye on Metallia, who was staring at her hand, tapping the tabletop with her fingers. "Well?" 

The shadow creature stared back at the eyeball with her own red demonic eyes. She threw her hand down on the table, face-down. "This hand's not worth it." 

"As I recall," Wisman countered, directing his attention fully on Zirconia, "your attempts to overthrow the Moon Kingdom's seat of power went to naught. Your plans of conquest all met with failure." "Very true," Zirconia grumbled, "but Queen Serenity was foolish enough to only seal me away, not destroy me outright." She chuckled to herself. "I sincerely doubt she could've done it anyway." 

"Your Dead Moon Circus hardly fared any better," Metallia pointed out. "It was a complete failure." 

"Shut up!" the other female snapped. "At least they actually did some damage!" 

"Damage, eh?" Metallia mocked. "When I marshalled the Earth Kingdom against the Moon Kingdom, I was far more successful than you could hope to dream!" 

Wiseman leaned to Pharoah 90's side after throwing in a few more chips into the pot. "Here it comes." 

"Not only did I turn Earth's most powerful sorceress to my way," the shadow creature continued, "but I also took control over the Four Kings and their armies, adding them all to my own! Combined with my youma, the Moon Kingdom was defenseless! Even their Senshi were no match for us!" 

Zirconia shook her head, throwing more chips into the pot. "Must we go through this again?" 

The black eye blinked, then threw in chips to match Wiseman's raised stakes. "It was hardly conquest. Your abscence by being sent to the future hardly made it worthwhile. Earth flourished without the hindrance of you or the Moon Kingdom to get in its way." 

"Details!" snorted Metallia. 

"Had you bothered to Silence Earth we wouldn't have to deal with... HER, now." 

"Oh, as if you're one to talk, Mister 'I couldn't open the door for myself!'" 

"Meanwhile, I'll raise seventy," Wiseman announced. 

Zirconia looked at her hand longingly, then folded her hand. "I don't like where this is going." 

The avatar of Pharoah 90 followed the dealer's lead with his own chips. "My hand is far superior than your own." 

"Maybe, maybe not," the dealer replied evenly. "But I agree, Silencing Earth back then would have made matters much easier today." 

"As if you're one to talk," snorted Metallia. "You and your brother there-- all you talk about is Silence and nothing else." 

"We are all brothers and sisters," Pharoah 90 corrected. 

"Big difference." 

"I have the Black Crystal," Wiseman said, "and I also had its greater likeness, Nemesis, in my possession. Dark twin to... HER own mystic Silver Crystal, it absorbed energy rather than reflected it, making it the unbeatable weapon." 

"Right," Zirconia said sarcastically. "And that's why you still lost, despite the big black hole rock." 

"By altering the flow of time," the Death Phantom countered angrily, "the Senshi brought a second Silver Crystal ahead in time to force Nemesis back into its erratic orbit, and thus stave off the attack on Crystal Tokyo. Had they not resorted to this I surely would have brought Silence to the world-- the chaos element would have been removed from perfect order." 

"Excuses, excuses!" Metallia complained. "That's all you other guys spout about." 

"You had your fair share," Pharoah 90 pointed out. 

"So what'll it be?" Wiseman said to the eyeball. "I call." 

The avatar's feelers carefully laid-out the five cards out neatly on the table. "Flush," he announced, revealing a hand full of hearts. 

If Wiseman still had the skin to produce a smile, he would have done so as he revealed his dark hand. "Straight Flush," he said, revealing a set of diamonds, king high. 

"You cheated." 

"The dealer never cheats," he countered. 

"I don't know," Metallia said, "I have my suspicions on that one." 

"In that case, you can deal," Wiseman decided, pulling the pot to his end of the table. 

"The winner deals, though," Pharoah 90 pointed out. 

"Then I'm still dealer!" the Death Phantom said with a snicker. 

Zirconia sighed, passing her cards to Wiseman's end of the table. As he began shuffling again, she asked, "So how many of you guys are going to the Family Reunion she's throwing?" 

"I doubt I shall attend," Pharoah 90 answered, "seeing as to my presence would surely dominate the surrounding area easily." 

"Then I'm not going, either," Metallia said. 

Shuffling the cards swiftly, Wiseman said, "I share the same sentiments as they." 

Zirconia shrugged. "Same here, but I figured, if we all go, then it'd be no problems, right?" 

"Remembering that it is she who is throwing the party," Metallia said. "We can never be too careful, even if she is one of us." 

"And yet not one of us," Wiseman added. 

"So when is it?" asked Pharoah 90. 

"Sometime during the next temporal flux, I think," Zirconia answered, "which is not too far off." 

"Then we should get our affairs in order." 

"Perhaps," conceded the dealer, "but, in the meantime, the game's the same, and this time, deuces are wild...." 

------------------------------------------------------- Author's Notes 

The title is in reference to an episode from Batman: The Animated Series which shared a similar concept as this story ("Almost Got Him"). 

--Razorclaw X http://www.crosswinds.net/~slythe/sm/index.html 


End file.
